by C. A. McHugh
“According to legend,” she explained, “the drae were a barbarian sect of elves who lived in this land long before the humans arrived. They worshipped Zelquis and were such a threat to the land that the High Elves banished them to another plane of existence. Because of their time there, their Elvish appearance became inverted—their pale skin darkened, and their hair turned white. Anilayus managed to summon ten of them and turn them into the Azeckborn.”
“So you see why Noli would be of particular interest to the Raven Bringer based on her ancestry,” Binnius finished. “But I’m curious to know why you brought her name up.”
“Because the King of Thieves seems to think she would be ideal to infiltrate the enemy’s ranks.”
Binnius sat back in his chair and nodded. “A rather clever idea on his part, but I seriously doubt Noli would ever agree to it. She’s suffered enough at his hand.”
Seroney wasn’t sure if her uncle was referring to the Raven Bringer or the King of Thieves, but she actually felt a twinge of sympathy for a descendant of an enemy.
“Well, it seems we all have our assignments,” Binnius continued, finishing off the last of his tea. “It’s only a few more weeks until the last set of challenges. Then Aerrin will be back in Dromore for the summer.”
“And right in the heart of a viper’s nest.” Ceryst tucked the list under his breastplate. “Any hope of discovering who the rat within the walls is?”
“I have a few suspicions, but nothing more.” Binnius rose. “In the meantime, I would greatly appreciate your assistance with those components, and I’m certain Seroney will devise a way to keep the king from any harm.”
“Short of keeping him on leash, you mean?” She crossed her arms. “Is there a spell that would imbue some common sense into him?”
Her uncle chuckled, but Ceryst gave her a sarcastic grin.
“You’re the lore-keeper, aren’t you?” he taunted.
She would’ve loved to use her magic to put Ceryst in his place. But Aerrin would perceive any attack on the knight as an attack on him, and her luck was already pushed to the limits. “And you’re just the thug.”
“Play nice, children.” Binnius placed a hand on the knight’s shoulder. “We’re all on the same team.”
The look Ceryst gave her said he couldn’t wait to be done with her. The feeling was mutual.
She stayed in her chair as the knight marched off with his orders. “What am I going to do with Aerrin?”
“You’re a Meritis. You’ll figure it out.” He uncle took her hand and pulled her to her feet. “It’s late, and we are both in need of sleep.”
A dismissal.
She was back to praying Aerrin would think it was all a dream. Short of altering his memory, that was the best she could hope for.
She didn’t want to consider the worst.
Chapter 27
Aerrin awoke drenched in a cold sweat. Visions from the night before clawed at his consciousness. The thick fog. The disemboweled, mutated infant. The wraith barely missing his head.
But nothing frightened him more than the image of a giant panther turning into Seroney.
“It’s just a dream,” he said to himself, even though he doubted it.
Outside his window, the skies were clear, and the sun shined down on the idyllic fields of flowers. Nothing lingered from the nightmarish world that he’d seen before.
A knock sounded at the door, and without waiting for permission to enter, Leandros popped in. “So, how did last night go?”
“What are you talking about?” Aerrin crawled out of bed and shed his soaked nightclothes in favor of clean, dry garments.
“Don’t play innocent with me. I’m your best friend.” Leandros hopped on the edge of the bed. “I caught Seroney sneaking out of your room with her hair all messed up, so I know you two were having a bit of fun.”
Aerrin’s mouth went dry. By the goddess, it wasn’t a dream. “I’d hardly call it fun.”
“A little performance anxiety. I get it. Nothing to be ashamed of.” Leandros cracked a grin. “But if you’re not man enough to handle Seroney—”
“It’s not what you think.” Aerrin hastily laced up his jerkin and grabbed a dagger. “Where is she?”
“Whoa! Just because you weren’t up to the challenge—”
“Shut up!” The last thing he wanted was anyone to overhear his best friend and come to the same wrong conclusions. “Come with me.”
They made their way to the girls’ corridor, taking care not to be seen. It was bad enough they were breaking rules to go there. Getting caught would only set tongues wagging.
As soon as they entered Nyssa and Seroney’s room, he cast a ward of seclusion.
Nyssa rose from her desk. “What’s going on?”
Aerrin ignored her and went straight for the sleeping form in the other bed. He pressed the blade of his dagger against her neck and waited for her to open her eyes. “What are you?”
Her cat launched at him with a yowl and four sets of claws, hissing and scratching until Seroney called it off and sat up. Even though Bhasha retreated to her lap, the animal looked ready to attack at a moment’s notice. A low growl of warning hummed from cat’s throat.
“That’s enough, Bhasha.” Seroney stroked her cat several times before looking up at Aerrin. “You should know better than to try to attack me while I’m sleeping.”
“And you’re not human.”
To her credit, she did a rather convincing job of pretending not to understand him. “Are you sure you’re feeling well?”
He pointed the dagger at her. “I saw you last night.”
“And what did you see?”
It was the same ploy she’d tried before when he confronted her about the letter in Elvish—answering his questions with one of her own—but this time, he wouldn’t play her game. “You’re a shapeshifter.”
Nyssa gasped, and even Leandros backed away.
Seroney, however, continued to stroke her cat while wearing an amused smile. “How much wine did you drink last night?”
“This isn’t due to wine, and I know I wasn’t dreaming because Leandros saw you leaving my room last night.” He jabbed at the air in front of him, inching his dagger closer to her and earning another hiss from Bhasha. “You were the panther last night. I saw you change back from it.”
Nyssa placed a hand on his arm. “Aerrin, you sound ridiculous.”
“No, I’m telling the truth.” He lowered his guard long enough to bring his friends up to speed. “Last night, a horde of undead attacked the Academy, and Seroney and I went out to investigate.”
“Correction. It wasn’t a horde, just a few wights and a wraith. Second, I only went along because you were too stupid to realize what kind of danger was out there and needed someone to keep you out of trouble.”
“I didn’t need your help.”
The snort of disdain she gave him expressed her doubt, further infuriating him.
“She left me on my own—”
“More like told you to run back home,” she interrupted.
“—and that’s when the wraith started chasing me. It almost got me when this giant black panther jumped through it.”
He turned to Seroney to see if she would contradict him, but she scratched Bhasha behind the ears. “And then what happened?”
He opened his mouth to accuse her of being a shapeshifter again, but then caught himself. “The panther carried me back to the Academy.”
“Sounds like such a vicious creature,” she said in a condescending tone. “You must have been on the verge of crying.”
The dagger wavered in his hand. “It was you.” When she didn’t respond, he asked, “Why?”
“What do you know of wraiths, Aerrin?” she replied.
Another question instead of an answer. “I know one touch can corrode your soul and turn you into one of them.”
“And do you know the most effective spells to use against them?”
Seroney was turning th
is into another one of her lessons. He lowered his arm a bit more. “Um, no.”
She turned to Nyssa, who was bouncing on her toes with the answer, even though Seroney hadn’t yet covered undead in their lessons. “Shatter, banish, repel—”
“But Aerrin said the panther jumped through it,” Leandros interrupted, his hazel eyes alight with a rare instance of intelligence. “Wouldn’t that have turned it into a ghost panther or something?”
Nyssa shook her head, her eyes opening wider. “No, because an animal doesn’t have a soul.”
“I think Bhasha would be quite offended to hear you say that.” Seroney scratched under the cat’s chin. “Of course animals have souls. They just can’t be corrupted by undead.”
And suddenly it all made sense. “You shifted because you could attack the wraith without being harmed.”
The gleam in her eyes told Aerrin he was correct, but she continued to wear that annoying smile that refused to give up anything. “I still don’t know why you continue to insist I’m a shapeshifter.” She moved Bhasha from her lap and got out of bed, wearing little more than a very thin linen shift. “Your ancestor exterminated that race centuries ago.”
“All except one.” Nyssa rushed to her stack of books and pulled one out from the bottom, sending the others tumbling in her haste. It was the same book she’d been reading when they’d returned from Dromore after the Longest Night festival. She flipped through the pages until she found what she wanted. “Gregor Meritis was rumored to have saved the life of the last shapeshifter.”
Leandros pumped his fist in the air. “Told you he bred with her.”
Seroney rolled her eyes and moved behind her dressing screen. “I can’t believe I’m having to listen to this conversation.”
Aerrin followed her, but remained on the other side of the screen. “You did it to save me, didn’t you?”
“You should really be careful what you accuse people of, especially since there’s still a law in this kingdom that all shapeshifters are to be killed on sight.” She peeked around the screen.
Her eyes were every bit as green and feline as the panther’s had been.
“We wouldn’t want to break any laws, no matter how old they are.” Her eyes slowly turned more human before she retreated behind the screen, but something in her demeanor told him she could be just as nasty as her cat had been if he continued to press the issue.
But he needed to know. “Seroney, we’re all friends here, and you can trust us with your secret.”
“Can I?” she emerged, fully dressed. “Prove it.”
“I’ll repeal the law today, if that is what you want.”
She studied him for a moment, her lips pursed as though she was trying to determine the best bounty to extract from him. Finally, she drew in a deep breath. “What I want is for you to be safe and to listen to me when I warn you to stay back so I won’t have to keep putting myself in danger to protect you.”
His cheeks grew warm from her reprimand. “I’ll listen.”
“Good. And since you so kindly placed a ward of seclusion around the room, let’s go over what you should do if you ever encounter another wraith.” Her eyes flashed in the sunlight with a predatory gleam, reminding him of what she was. “After all, it’s not like you can shift into an animal and escape them.”
He shivered. The more he learned about Seroney, the more reason he had to fear her.
Yet, for all the secrets she kept from him, she’d proven once again that she would go out of her way to protect him, even if it meant revealing something that would get her killed.
And that made her a true friend and ally.
But would her next secret prove to be too much?
Chapter 28
Aerrin had paced the hallway in front of the challenge chambers so many times, he could’ve worn grooves into the hardwood floors.
“Calm down, Aerrin,” Nyssa pleaded. “It’s just another set of challenges.”
“Easy for you to say.” Leandros wiped the sweat off his forehead and kissed the medal of Mariliel around his neck. “You always pass with ease.”
“That’s not going to bring you luck.” She rolled her eyes and moved directly in front of Aerrin, halting him. “What’s really worrying you?”
He flexed his fingers, wishing his palms weren’t so sweaty. “If I fail, then I’ll feel like I never reached my full potential to protect my kingdom as a master mage.”
She gave him a supportive smile. “You’re not going to fail.”
“And if I pass, then I’ll have to choose a master to apprentice myself under, and short of Master Binnius, I don’t know whom I’d trust.”
“And you can’t choose Master Binnius because he can’t take on an apprentice because he’s the headmaster.” Leandros draped his arm over Aerrin’s shoulder. “Yep, it’s tough to be our situation.”
“Who said anything about you passing?” Nyssa shoved Leandros’s arm away. “Master Taylind seems like a good choice.”
“I suppose so.” He sidestepped Nyssa and resumed pacing. The challenges started in less than ten minutes, yet there was part of him that would love to delay them for another ten years.
“Too bad Seroney’s not a master mage,” Leandros mused. “She’d be awesome.”
Aerrin found himself almost laughing at the notion. He’d learned more from her in the last five months than he had from five years at the Academy. For the first time in his life, he had the confidence that he’d know what to do if he ever encountered a demon.
Or a wraith.
Or any form of the unnatural they’d learned about so far.
“Speaking of Seroney, where is she?” Leandros scanned the crowd. “You’d think she’d be here as bright and early as Nyssa.”
“She was up late last night making jewelry.” Nyssa’s expression bordered on smug. “I practically had to drag her out of bed this morning, and she insisted on taking her time to get dressed.”
“Jealous because she not only looks better than you but also still has a good chance to getting the highest marks in our class, even if she did stay up all night?”
Nyssa swung at Leandros, and Aerrin moved between them to keep the fight from escalating. “You two act like small children.”
Seroney rushed into the room, and even though her cheeks were flushed from running, everything else about her appearance was perfectly put together.
“I made it in time.” She grinned and pulled out three leather cords. “These are some, uh, good-luck charms for the three of you to wear on your wrists.”
She opened her palm to reveal that each cord had been intricately knotted around the pale blue gem in the center and then pointed to the matching one on her wrist.
Leandros snatched one from her. “I can use all the luck I can get.”
“That’s cheating.” Nyssa yanked the bracelet from him and eyed it with suspicion. “What kind of spell are you hiding in these?”
“You can’t hide a spell in an object.” Aerrin took one and ran his thumb over the center stone. A faint hum seemed to come from it, but he dismissed it as nonsense. He was so nervous about the challenges, he had to be hallucinating. If it was anything illegal or harmful, the spells at the entrance of the testing chambers would counteract it.
He tied it around his wrist. “Thank you.”
Leandros grabbed the last one and did the same, leaving Nyssa as the last one to protest.
“But if they suspect you of cheating—”
“The chambers are designed to detect any forms of cheating.” Seroney gave the other girl a silent plea in her smile. “Please, Nyssa, it’s just a small gift, something we can all celebrate in case this is our last set of challenges together.”
Aerrin and Nyssa both turned to Leandros.
“What? You’re expecting me to fail?” He pouted. “And I thought you were my friends.”
“You’re not going to fail.” Seroney came closer to him and slipped four slender vials into his hand. “If you get stuc
k, try these.”
“Cheating!” Nyssa whispered as loudly as she dared.
“It’s only cheating if he uses something he hasn’t been taught to do, and these are third-year potions, which Leandros has made before, right?” Seroney looked to him for confirmation.
“Of course,” he said, nodding. “Just for the record, though, what exactly is in here?”
Nyssa scoffed at his ignorance, but tied the bracelet around her wrist. “You’re going to get caught, and I’m going to laugh.”
Seroney pointed to the different-colored tops of the vials. “Healing potion, a double time potion, smoke bomb, and weak acid.”
Leandros nodded again and tucked them into his pocket. “Yep, all third-year potions. Thanks, Seroney.”
A bell rang, signaling to all the students to line up in front of the plain doors that led to the challenge chambers. Master Philgus stood at the entryway with a scroll, assigning each student to their respective doors. “Miss Barrach, door three. Lord Vergail, door six.” He sneered at Seroney as he said, “Lady Meris, door two. King Aerrin, door one.”
Seroney reached out to squeeze his hand. “You have this, Aerrin. You’re ready.”
He wished he shared her confidence.
He strode to the door to which he’d been assigned and was the first in line. It opened, and he took a deep breath and stepped into the simple room with gray stone walls.
Time to get this over with.
The room blurred as it always did when the challenges began, but this time, it felt like he was being dragged through the air. His stomach lurched. His head swam in dizzying circles until black blobs appeared on the fringes of his vision. His knees buckled from under him, and he fell.
A few seconds or a few minutes might have passed before everything came back into focus, but when he looked up, he found himself staring at a man with burning red eyes and a skull mask.
Terror choked his throat and paralyzed his muscles as he recognized the creature he’d only heard stories about.
The Raven Bringer.
He whirled his black cloak around him with a dramatic flair before bowing in a mocking manner. “Good morning, Your Majesty. I can’t tell you how happy I am to have you as my guest.”